Tag Archives: sport

BERLIN, Germany — Joachim Loew, coach of Germany’s national soccer team, should be elated. His team is undefeated in the Euro 2012 tournament. It is now poised to reach the final, if it can beat archrivals Italy on Thursday, giving Germany a chance to claim its first major tournament victory since 1996.

Instead, the coach is irate. And so are his compatriots.

A mole with access to the inner ranks of his team has been leaking vital information to the press about the team’s lineup. That means hours or even days before each match, Germany’s opponents know who they’ll be up against.

The leaks are causing no end of frustration within the German camp. Team captain Phillip Lahm has branded the informant — who remains undiscovered — a “disgrace.” Continue reading →

The striker swerves past two defenders and buries the ball in the bottom corner to score the winning World Cup goal in front of a sellout crowd and millions more viewers at home.

But there is unlikely to be fame and multimillion-pound sponsorship deals when the stars of the Women’s World Cup return home after a tournament that has surpassed all expectations, winning over new fans and delighting advertisers.

Most of the country may be in the grip of football fever but one group of Germans are resolutely not supporting the national team. The far-right scene rejects the new multicultural squad as un-German and says it can’t identify. For many, it is consistent with their rejection of the entire democratic state.

“I can no longer identify with the national team,” someone calling himself Blaue Narzisse writes, explaining why he isn’t supporting Germany in the World Cup. “The colors black, red, gold are being abused for the mega event by this motley Germany team.” It is a sentiment repeated widely across the far-right scene these days.

Germany may be awash with black, red and gold, as the national flag adorns cars, balconies and pubs. But while most of the country is urging the team on as it faces Argentina in Saturday’s quarter-final, for neo-Nazis it is next to impossible to back a team that includes players with names like Boateng, Özil or Podolski. This German national team is the most ethnically diverse ever, celebrated widely as finally being representative of the wider German society. But to the far right, a squad where 11 of the 23 have migrant backgrounds is no longer really German. Continue reading →